Gallygirl's 95 month challenge - now 'only' 92 months

StuartGMC

Nice idea :rotfl:

gallygirl

Tesco_points_addict wrote: »

GG have you ever done an Vauxhall MSs? Just wondering what sort of discount I could be looking at???

TPAx

Only 4x4's, around 15% I think. Of course, I am available for hire if you would like to write a scenario , around €22 a showroom :rotfl:

gallygirl

Well, quick update from me.

DS has been offered a 3yr PHD oop north & will be taking it. As his funding is tax free it works out the equivalent of a wage of £16627 a year. Not bad really. He'll be looking for a room at 1st but may buy a little place - he will have a 20k deposit (when I said I would give the kids money from mum's house I didn't think they'd actually want it any time soon ). I'd have to take out mortgage on mums house to fund it I think, although easiest option would be to increase current mortgage our LTV isn't very good as we remortgaged to clear BTL mortgage at better rate. Anyway, don't think Egg would offer any remortgages at the mo. Or I could wipe out our savings again & borrow say 5k from OH . Brain hurts from looking at options :rolleyes:.

OH's job may be in danger, :eek:. Oops .

Little bits & pieces paid to offset in last day or 2, although mortgage payments x 3 have come out of savings in readiness for 1st Oct - that always hurts _pale_. This is good time of month now though - rent x 3 comes in (2 is 'ours', 1 is 'mine & kids'), I get paid tomorrow:T ( although this is the last month I'll be transferring money to offset manually as have set up DD), mortgages get paid on 1st & another £200 goes to offset . Lots of spreadsheet activity, updating of snowball & poring over graphs to come :j.

4 MS picked up for Sat, at last

Nice easy day tomorrow, 1 visit to make, 1.5 hrs away at mid-morning, then home . Need to make a start updating training sessions so ideal to make a start on that PM.

Hope all well, been some bad news on some threads last day or two

setmefree2

to DS on his new adventure and well done to you on all your MF progress:T

StuartGMC

GG
What a lot in one posting!

Best wishes to your DS on his PhD and I hope he enjoys the challenge ahead.

We await news on your OH's job; you seem very calm about it, especially with the potential need to provide equity for your son!

gallygirl

StuartGMC wrote: »

GG
What a lot in one posting!

Best wishes to your DS on his PhD and I hope he enjoys the challenge ahead.

We await news on your OH's job; you seem very calm about it, especially with the potential need to provide equity for your son!

Thanks Stuart, OH v highly regarded and the 'apron option' wouldn't be so bad :rotfl:

4 MS today & 2 tomorrow so off to prepare. Lots of coffee & cookies lie ahead

gallygirl

Crikey, where have I been ?

OH job situ ok, however it does mean a return to 24/7 working :rolleyes:, boy I can't wait. Still, at least we won't have to talk to one another any more:rotfl:

DS looking for accomm prior to starting PHD :j

DD enjoying job & earning pennies to pay off ccard debt by doing mystery shopping (sorry Hypno ) :j

Still looking at OH's pension etc. Decided to review mine 1st as I have a much more restricted choice of funds. Checked with Friends Provident online & gratified to see pension pot has doubled in last 6 months (although obviously in that time I have been making contributions so increase not quite that impressive!).

For those who are interested:



Am actually net positive for the 1st time in 18 months :j. Individual funds as below:


I stopped paying into NIG in Jan 08 but kept my holding. As of today I have sold it, and FP European, and future funds will be allocated as follows:
Artemis UK Special Situations 17%
First State Asia Pacific Leaders 25%
First State Global Emerging Markets 25%
M&G Property 16% (:eek:)
FP Pacific Basin 17%.

Due to limited range of funds was difficult to decide whether to go for average fund in area I wanted or good fund in area I didn't want, but we will see. Would have liked dedicated India fund but none available. Quite bullish & weighted to new, mainly eastern, economies. Don't want too much in UK as have property investments here & have a (probably completely unjustified ) dislike of trackers so that ruled out a lot. Interested to see what others make of it. I see it is quite different to Stuart's profile, as I have largely ignore the US and Europe .

That's enough excitement for now I think, have a good week all

setmefree2

Hi GG,

I decided to avoid the US and Europe too - largely because of the added complications with movements in the dollar and the euro. Anyway, just wanted to wish you

Best wishes

SMF2

StuartGMC

gallygirl wrote: »

I stopped paying into NIG in Jan 08 but kept my holding. As of today I have sold it, and FP European, and future funds will be allocated as follows:
Artemis UK Special Situations 17%
First State Asia Pacific Leaders 25%
First State Global Emerging Markets 25%
M&G Property 16% (:eek:)
FP Pacific Basin 17%.

Due to limited range of funds was difficult to decide whether to go for average fund in area I wanted or good fund in area I didn't want, but we will see. Would have liked dedicated India fund but none available. Quite bullish & weighted to new, mainly eastern, economies. Don't want too much in UK as have property investments here & have a (probably completely unjustified ) dislike of trackers so that ruled out a lot. Interested to see what others make of it. I see it is quite different to Stuart's profile, as I have largely ignore the US and Europe .

That's enough excitement for now I think, have a good week all

GG, great news on your OH!

Regarding the charts, overall you have a similar total response as mine so it's good to see you too are back on trend now.

I would agree that you don't want too much in UK; I don't have Europe per se - oh no, I have Russia and Greater Russia :eek: which manifests as Emerging Europe.... only time will tell. I am pondering starting to contribute to this again (but each one means a minimum of £40 per month as we have two identical ISAs and most funds need a £20 per month min sub).

Property is brave but I guess you are looking longer term, plus there has at last been an uplift for some construction companies.

You've got 50% in the higher risk growth areas but presently no Absolute Return or similar lower risk; will you be transitioning profits to such funds in future?
(Can't access Trustnet to see the actual rankings as their site is down - and I can't update the spreadsheet :eek::eek::eek:)

...that is a very natural reaction, isn't it?

Edit: I saw this and thought of you (regarding property above)
http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/Features/Property/article/20091001/f06e53f4-ac08-11de-9695-00144f2af8e8/Property-recovery-plays.jsp

gallygirl

Thanks Stuart. I feel your spreadsheet pain _pale_, hope it's back up soon.

The property fund is commercial property, I've read a few articles recently on the sector, and have only invested 16% so we'll see how it goes. New fund, though in top quartile for 1st 1/4. I am looking at a high risk fund for part of OH's S&S ISA which invests in traded mortgages :eek: (hell, it's not my money I'm investing :rotfl:and he has a great company pension I can't get my hands on ).

Yes, I've gone medium high to high risk and will stay that way for next 3-5 years, then review. What I need to do is find out what happens when I leave co (hopefully to move to Spain), in years between stopping payments and taking a pension could I still move funds about . Of course if I carry on doubling my money every six months I will have to decide whether to take profits early - will cross that bridge when I come to it .

Am away Thurs night and have managed to pick up 5 mystery shops to do before I go and on my way down there. So, if you're in the South West & see a mad woman driving round trying to get a signal to input results that will be me :rotfl:

Offset rising again but have a bill of around €400 to pay _pale_ so need to make sure I have that in NW so I can lift while in Spain & transfer over to Spanish account.

10 more sleeps before long weekend